The Lord of the Rings can still pack them into movie theaters, as in a bit of a surprise the release of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King extended edition on the big screen earned the No. 2 spot at the US box office on Thursday, April 13. That's against first night preview of brand new movies starring Nicolas Cage and Russell Crowe.
According to The Numbers, Return of the King grossed $1.17 million on April 13, which bested box office numbers of John Wick: Chapter 4 ($1.03 million) in its third week and Air ($982.597) in its second. But perhaps even more impressive, it performed better than two new movies that had early screenings on April 13 — the action/comedy Renfield starring Cage ($900,000) and the horror movie The Pope's Exorcist with Crowe ($850,000).
